Newbie with problems.

[ZeroXR]

I was watching a video clip on VLC Player when the application freezes and then the whole machine locked up. After a little while the machine reboots but when it rebooted, the machine does its normal chime and then when it tries to get to the log-in screen, it gets stuck at a gray OS 9 looking screen with a tiny purple folder that flashes between a "?" and the Finder icon.

I am stuck with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse set, so the Command + S and shift key commands won't work. I am guessing that just sticking in the OS installation disk won't work automatically either, will it?

Are there any other solutions? I believe I still have a month left on the 1 year limited warranty on it, so I could always chance it and take it to the Genius Bar in town. Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help out!

[tbsingleton73]

You should take a look at this Apple Doc (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042) (directions for OS 9 are at the nearer the bottem.)

[hayne]

You should be able to boot from the Install DVD by restarting and holding down the C key after the chime.

I'm not sure if you can get into single-user mode with the BlueTooth keyboard - you may need to borrow a USB keyboard if you need to get into single-user mode. But the Install DVd should do the trick.

[ThreeDee]

Sounds like a HD problem. g2g now...